A. Field of Invention
This application pertains to a system and method of providing advertising on hand-held and similar devices, including cell phones and the like. A user elects to receive targeted advertisement in return for rewards, such as either cheaper or free service.
B. Description of the Prior Art
Various hand-held devices have become ubiquitous in various activities, ranging from business to entertainment, shopping, travel, etc. to the point where many people could not conceive living without them. Such devices are used by individuals as primarily means of communicating with each other as well as with various service providers and other entities. More specifically, these devices are used for not only standard voice communications (e.g., mobile telephone calls), but also to obtain and exchange content via emails and texts, as well as web sites, chat rooms and social media such as Facebook and other similar services.
Of course, while individuals pay for accessing these services to their respective service providers, they have gotten used and expect to gain access to the content for free. Therefore, many content providers have resorted to presenting some advertisements together with the contents as a means of obtaining revenue for their services. The advertisements are provided by third parties. However, in most situations, individuals have learned to ignore most advertisements, and accordingly, advertisers are looking for techniques for encouraging individuals using hand-held devices to pay more attention to their advertisements. The present invention provides such a technique.